AAS/PH and Heart Problems?

I went in today for my pre-gyno surgery order pickup, which is on Wednesday. I ended up talking to this lady nurse and she gave me this 15 minute speech on how AAS is bad for your heart muscles and heart valves, and how Arnold S had to get a heart valve replacement?

Does anybody have any thoughts on this? And does this include AAS like Anavar and such that are often prescribed?

Arnold had a Bicuspid Aortic valve.. a genetic defect which required replacement..
He also AFAIK had bypass surgery which was most likely due to high calories and saturated fats..
Bodybuilding in nature is good for the heart, as long as cardio is combined..
The high calorie diets can be strenuous, but I have also heard that many AAS can be stressfull on the left heart/ventricles myocardium.. however I never checked into the validity of any of this.. However it does make some sense.

BTW Open heart surgery is practically as common today as ****ing apendectomies.. it's routine and thousands get it with no probs- it's scary idea but really NBD..

Yes it is bad for your heart and that is very obivious, its like saying cigerettes dont cause cancer. The difference between a doctor precribing them to you is the dosages, he is prescribing healthy normal doses, and we are taking superhuman doses to gain muscle (abuse) . You can think of it as running nitrous through an engine, sooner or later your gonna need to start replacing parts.. For some people thats worth it.

Yes it is bad for your heart and that is very obivious, its like saying cigerettes dont cause cancer. The difference between a doctor precribing them to you is the dosages, he is prescribing healthy normal doses, and we are taking superhuman doses to gain muscle (abuse) . You can think of it as running nitrous through an engine, sooner or later your gonna need to start replacing parts.. For some people thats worth it.

Citation needed.

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Abstract
Abuse of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) has been linked to a variety of different cardiovascular side effects. In case reports, acute myocardial infarction is the most common event presented, but other adverse cardiovascular effects such as left ventricular hypertrophy, reduced left ventricular function, arterial thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and several cases of sudden cardiac death have also been reported. However, to date there are no prospective, randomized, interventional studies on the long-term cardiovascular effects of abuse of AAS. In this review we have studied the relevant literature regarding several risk factors for cardiovascular disease where the effects of AAS have been scrutinized:
(1) Echocardiographic studies show that supraphysiologic doses of AAS lead to both morphologic and functional changes of the heart. These include a tendency to produce myocardial hypertrophy (Fig. 3), a possible increase of heart chamber diameters, unequivocal alterations of diastolic function and ventricular relaxation, and most likely a subclinically compromised left ventricular contractile function. (2) AAS induce a mild, but transient increase of blood pressure. However, the clinical significance of this effect remains modest. (3) Furthermore, AAS confer an enhanced pro-thrombotic state, most prominently through an activation of platelet aggregability. The concomitant effects on the humoral coagulation cascade are more complex and include activation of both pro-coagulatory and fibrinolytic pathways. (4) Users of AAS often demonstrate unfavorable measurements of vascular reactivity involving endothelial-dependent or endothelial-independent vasodilatation. A degree of reversibility seems to be consistent, though. (5) There is a comprehensive body of evidence documenting that AAS induce various alterations of lipid metabolism. The most prominent changes are concomitant elevations of LDL and decreases of HDL, effects that increase the risk of coronary artery disease. And finally, (6) the use of AAS appears to confer an increased risk of life-threatening arrhythmia leading to sudden death, although the underlying mechanisms are still far from being elucidated. Taken together, various lines of evidence involving a variety of pathophysiologic mechanisms suggest an increased risk for cardiovascular disease in users of anabolic androgenic steroids.

Androgens will have more sides due to their effects on BP, increased VAT, etc. However, there is a huge difference between use and abuse and it is very difficult to make a definition for it. Everyone always brings up Arnold, but what about all of the other BBers from that era such as Columbu, Zane, Pearl, Draper, etc?

There are two main conditions that would steer me away from AAS: family history of hypertension and family history of early CVD. Hypertension is heavily influenced by genetics and there is little that can be done for this. AAS, even short-term, is not really worth the risk. Early CVD (e.g. myocardial infarction) is another one that would steer me away from AAS. HCM is the most common culprit and AAS can exacerbate this by increasing BP. Not coincidentally, there is a high correlation between these two conditions.

M.Ed. Ex Phys

01-04-2010, 04:13 PM

dpfisher

Yes, steroids can contribute to thickening of the heart walls with long term abuse. Most studies say it reverses within 6 months of stopping steroid use though.

i'd also like to see a study showing that heart issues from aas are reversible, 6 months seems awful short too. I wonder if you kept your blood pressure and cholesterol readings normalized while on aas if these issues would still remain?

i'd also like to see a study showing that heart issues from aas are reversible, 6 months seems awful short too. I wonder if you kept your blood pressure and cholesterol readings normalized while on aas if these issues would still remain?

Empirically speaking, we will probably never know. Plus, having biased figures such as Dr. Gary Wadler do not help the cause.

I went in today for my pre-gyno surgery order pickup, which is on Wednesday. I ended up talking to this lady nurse and she gave me this 15 minute speech on how AAS is bad for your heart muscles and heart valves, and how Arnold S had to get a heart valve replacement?

Does anybody have any thoughts on this? And does this include AAS like Anavar and such that are often prescribed?

all steroids have a serious impact on your cardiovascular system. some more than others, but all of them effect it.